diff --git a/autogen/agentchat/contrib/gpt_assistant_agent.py b/autogen/agentchat/contrib/gpt_assistant_agent.py
index 42056f4ca18..417bbcdac7b 100644
--- a/autogen/agentchat/contrib/gpt_assistant_agent.py
+++ b/autogen/agentchat/contrib/gpt_assistant_agent.py
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ def __init__(
                 # Tools are specified but overwrite_tools is False; do not update the assistant's tools
                 logger.warning("overwrite_tools is False. Using existing tools from assistant API.")
 
+        self.update_system_message(self._openai_assistant.instructions)
         # lazily create threads
         self._openai_threads = {}
         self._unread_index = defaultdict(int)
diff --git a/test/agentchat/contrib/test_gpt_assistant.py b/test/agentchat/contrib/test_gpt_assistant.py
index 643e35e89f2..6fc69097fc0 100755
--- a/test/agentchat/contrib/test_gpt_assistant.py
+++ b/test/agentchat/contrib/test_gpt_assistant.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
         filter_dict={
             "api_type": ["openai"],
             "model": [
+                "gpt-4o",
                 "gpt-4-turbo",
                 "gpt-4-turbo-preview",
                 "gpt-4-0125-preview",
@@ -313,7 +314,7 @@ def test_assistant_retrieval() -> None:
         "description": "This is a test function 1",
     }
     function_2_schema = {
-        "name": "call_function_1",
+        "name": "call_function_2",
         "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {}, "required": []},
         "description": "This is a test function 2",
     }
@@ -383,12 +384,12 @@ def test_assistant_mismatch_retrieval() -> None:
     name = f"For test_assistant_retrieval {uuid.uuid4()}"
 
     function_1_schema = {
-        "name": "call_function",
+        "name": "call_function_1",
         "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {}, "required": []},
         "description": "This is a test function 1",
     }
     function_2_schema = {
-        "name": "call_function",
+        "name": "call_function_2",
         "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {}, "required": []},
         "description": "This is a test function 2",
     }